Painted dummy doesn't fool highway police

SEATTLE (UPI) -- A driver who put a hat-wearing, clothed dummy in his car's passenger seat when using a high-occupancy vehicle lane didn't fool a Washington state trooper.

The trooper said when he first saw the fake passenger in a vehicle on northbound Interstate 5 Friday, he knew something suspicious was going on, The Seattle Times reported.

After pulling over the 27-year-old driver, the trooper found the passenger was actually just a dummy -- painted beige to give it a human appearance. The mannequin also had been adorned with a sweatshirt and a hat, the trooper said.

The driver couldn't explain himself to the trooper, who wrote up a $124 ticket for illegal use of the HOV-lane, the Times said.


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